Accessing and Adding RSS Feeds

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Introduction

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) allows you subscribe to many blogs, news services, etc, and see a list of up-to-minute updates for your collection of sites. Such a service is useful for teachers as a source for personal learning, a teaching resource, and for exposure to new ideas that could be adapted for your own classroom.

This tutorial will show you how to use RSS two ways:
1. To use an aggregator or RSS reader to subscribe to and monitor a collection of websites.
This will allow you to assemble a (potentially huge) collection of websites in a way that displays the changes at the site since your last review.
2. To use a Del.icio.us or a Diigo account and the RSS icon Icon_RSS.jpg to create a news or media listing on your wikispace.
This will allow you to create topic-specific newsfeeds that you can embed in your wikispace.

More Information about RSS Feeds

  • Will Richardson's RSS FAQ - A well-know ed-tech blogger has assembled a pretty complete resource about how to use RSS feeds as a teacher.

Step 1: Sign Up On An Online News Aggregator: Google Reader

  1. In a new tab: Go to Google and create a free account.
  2. In a new tab: Go to a science news site such as http://www.sciencedaily.com by going to its page that contains its subscription URL. Copy the appropriate URL (it should end in "xml") and then return to your Bloglines page to "Subscribe."
  3. Repeat the subscription process as much as you want. Here are some favorite sites:

Step 2: Use Del.icio.us or Diigo To Create a Low-Maintenance Newsfeed

  1. In a new tab: Go to http://del.icio.us/ and create a free account.
  2. Install the delicious tools or diigo tools for bookmarking.
  3. Now "bookmark" some (maybe 5) webpages that are relevant to your teaching and interesting to your students. ((Place to browse: http://www.sciencedaily.com). Assign each webpage a category or tag, as shown below:
    (need screenshot here)

Step 3: Embed Your Newsfeed in your Wikispace

  1. Return to Del.icio.us or Diigo to copy the RSS feed for the tag you used to group the bookmarks you want to include in your feed.
    RSSFeed01.jpg.
  2. Obtain the URL for the RSS feed you would like to include on your wikispace,
  3. Go to your wikispace, create a new page, and use the media tool Icon_Toolbar.jpg to add an RSS feed to the page. Paste the RSS feed into the appropriate field:

RSSFeed02.jpg